Chapter 19: The Birth of Amtosrin

“Seriously, it’s unbelievable. That guy recommended everyone.”

Belkan.

The elder of Helum, Levane, had brought over a hundred high-quality gems, yet his favorability rating was still below 20%.

However, the moment he saw Houm’s recommendation letter, his favorability toward Levane skyrocketed.

“So that’s why blood ties, regional ties, and school ties matter. Just one recommendation letter and my favorability jumped 50%?”

Levane clearly saw the favorability percentage floating above Belkan’s head rising in real time.

Watching that made him deeply regret his past attempts to boost favorability using only gems.

Levane said, “That was Houm’s doing. If possible, he wants to become a real older brother to me, not just someone who talks.”

“Houm said that himself?”

“Yes. As proof, I learned Houm’s vision skill, Thunder Strike.”

“Thunder Strike?!”

“Yes!”

A series of shocks.

Belkan’s expression clearly showed his surprise.

Thanks to that, there was no need for further proof.

“Hmm... If you’ve mastered Houm’s Thunder Strike, then there’s nothing more to say. Good. I will give you the opportunity to become an official disciple of our village.”

“Really, Elder?”

“Of course. By the way, how much do you know about Amtos?”

“Amtos?”

“That’s right.”

Amtos.

Amtos is a rock-type monster known for being slow and dull-witted, but it has very high defense, making it an inefficient target that even seasoned hunters avoid.

That was all the information Levane had.

But Belkan began to share information about Amtos that Levane had never heard before.

“Actually, Amtos can combine. If certain conditions are met.”

“Combine... you mean?”

“Yes. But even I have rarely seen an Amtos that combined. Such a combined Amtos is a rare creature.”

A combining Amtos?

This was a fact not even seen on the official website, and if true...

“That’d be a hit on YouTube for sure.”

Levane swallowed dryly.

Everyone had been ignoring Amtos, but it turned out they could actually combine like robots?

Just that fact alone made this quest worth undertaking.

Levane continued the conversation.

“Well then... here’s the deal.”

“Defeat that guy and bring me the Soul of the Rock Spirit, which can only be obtained from him. If you do, I’ll help convince the villagers to officially accept the mage’s disciple into Helum.”

[Quest has appeared]

[Become Helum’s Disciple (2)]

[Rank: Special, Linked.]

[Condition: Defeat the combined Amtos and bring the Soul of the Rock Spirit from the combined Amtos for everyone’s recognition.]

[Reward: Registered as an official disciple of Helum.]

Finally, the second linked quest appeared.

Levane immediately accepted the quest.

“Thank you for the opportunity. I will definitely defeat the combined Amtos and bring back the reward as proof.”

“As expected of someone recommended by Houm. Your eyes sparkle like a true mage. Then, I’ll explain about the combined Amtos, called Amtosrin.”

Levane listened attentively to Belkan’s words like a reporter covering a special report.

After hearing the method to summon the combined Amtos, ‘Amtosrin,’ and an explanation about it, Levane bowed his head.

“Thank you for the explanation. I’ll be back soon.”

Having gathered the information, Levane’s eyes sparkled.

Then he hurriedly started preparing to hunt Amtosrin.

This was after Levane left Belkan’s house.

“I heard.”

“Yeah, I heard. Seriously, Oppa, this is great material, right?”

“Isn’t this perfect for YouTube?”

“But we didn’t even officially accept the quest. Is that okay?”

“What does it matter? We just need the YouTube views. Let’s start a channel and grow our following.”

“What if I get reported?”

“Reported? What report? Didn’t you see the precedent? They can’t sue for this. Do you think the prosecutors have the time to deal with this stuff every day?”

Two unfamiliar voices.

One male, the other female.

The man’s name was Dunkin.

The woman’s name was Dnase.

The two were a couple. Dunkin had previously changed careers to become a warrior, and Dnase had changed careers to become a thief.

And Dunkin’s true identity was none other than the person who had bullied Houm.

Here’s what happened.

When Levane heard Houm’s blunt weapon skill, Dunkin was so embarrassed that he immediately fled.

But his panic was short-lived.

Dunkin, who almost gave up, forgot his own disgrace and recalled a crucial fact.

Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen anyone else wield that blunt weapon. Does that mean Levane is the first one?

Levane really was the first.

And Dunkin was the only one who had caught on to this.

From then on, Dunkin called his thief girlfriend and started tailing Levane.

Because thieves could learn the ‘Eavesdrop’ skill, which made it easy to gather information.

“I feel it, I feel it. My gut tells me that guy’s definitely going to get his ass kicked by me.”

So Dunkin, being reckless, even bought the Eavesdrop skill for his girlfriend, despite being a warrior who couldn’t learn it himself.

As expected, Dunkin and his girlfriend obtained hot information hotter than a century-old wild ginseng.

“Ah... the gods are with me. Life is all about one big shot, Dnase.”

“Oppa, what are we going to do now?”

“What do you mean? Didn’t you hear? That thing called Amtosrin is easy to make. Let’s create it first and get the jump on them. That’s the answer.”

“What if we can’t catch it? Honestly, just hunting Amtos is already tough.”

“You don’t get it. That’s not the issue right now. If we can’t catch it, we just give up. What matters is who uploads the video first.”

“Is that so?”

“Exactly. So let’s move quickly. There’s no time to waste.”

Dunkin and Dnase.

Having learned about the Amtosrin summoning method through eavesdropping, the two began moving swiftly like busy bees to film their video faster than Levane.

~

“This should be enough.”

To summon Amtosrin, a few supplies were necessary.

Luckily, those supplies were easier to find than expected.

So Levane simply purchased the materials through the auction house.

“Well, even if the materials were expensive, I would have bought them anyway.”

That was true.

This quest involved summoning a rare monster that wasn’t even revealed on the official homepage.

So no matter how expensive or hard to find the materials were, Levane was willing to invest.

“We have to catch it quietly. As quietly as possible. That means summoning it where there are as few people as possible.”

Preparations were complete.

Now, all that remained was to choose a place to summon Amtosrin.

After searching around Helum for a long time, Levane settled on a hill that was hard for people to discover unless there was a big commotion.

Choosing the stage, Levane placed a single incense.

The incense was called Seokhwancho.

It was an incense that attracted rock-type monsters. To ordinary people, it smelled like sewage, but to rock-type monsters, it was like a drug.

After setting up the Seokhwancho, Levane got up and counted the number of Amtos nearby.

“Let’s see, one, two, three, four... only eight in this area.”

Belkan had said that Amtosrin was like a golem made from rock-type monsters combined.

So to summon Amtosrin, at least ten Amtos were needed, but there were only eight nearby.

Levane lit the Seokhwancho and gripped Houm’s club tightly, then began luring the nearby Amtos over.

“Hurry up, hurry!”

Levane gently gathered the Amtos with minimal damage, and as the Amtos began to gather around the incense, he hid quickly.

Soon, when ten Amtos had gathered around the incense, Levane noticed changes starting to happen among the clustered Amtos.

[Amtos are communicating.]

[Amtosrin’s summoning conditions have been met.]

Warning messages appeared before his eyes.

Messages to be welcomed.

Levane felt a thrill watching the clustered Amtos forming a tower-like shape around the incense.

“Ah, this is why I became a Warlord.”

Levane was a survival gamer.

But when he saw these strange, miraculous scenes while enjoying the Warlord game, he reminded himself that he hadn’t started playing this game to make money—it was because he liked it.

So he loved this kind of moment.

At times like this, it felt as if he were not just playing a game, but truly having a fantastic adventure.

[Amtosrin is being summoned.]

And Amtosrin was summoned.

Thud—!

Heavy footsteps.

Though each Amtos was less than 8,000 in size, when clustered together, their combined size was enormous.

Levane glanced at the name tag that appeared above Amtosrin’s head.

“Red?”

The name tag was red.

And in Warlord, a red monster name meant...

“Amtosrin is a boss.”

Levane took a defensive stance with Houm’s club.

“Belkan said Amtosrin’s level itself isn’t very high. But if there’s a problem...”

Amtosrin was a monster formed by the gathered Amtos around the incense.

Because it was a monster made of multiple individuals, its level was low, and its attack patterns were simple compared to other bosses.

But the real reason it was difficult to fight wasn’t any of those things.

It was that the incense kept continuously drawing in and absorbing Amtos until several of them died.

In other words, a time-attack-style infinite spawn boss monster.

Levane checked the level next to the red name tag.

[Amtosrin / Lv. 25]

“I’m level 25. That’s manageable for me now.”

Though the level difference was nearly 10, Levane’s character’s physical stats were strong enough to handle such a difference easily.

So when he first heard about Amtosrin, he wasn’t scared.

Because from what Belkan said, it seemed like he could handle it alone.

Levane shouted.

“Please select the cube to use.”

Two options appeared before his eyes along with the command.

Levane’s choice was obvious.

“Cube 33.”

Click clack click clack!

[Hold completed.]

“Please select the target for your skill.”

And naturally, the target was...

Click—

Levane’s club pointed at Amtosrin.

Then Levane spoke.

“Strong Strike.”

[Strong Strike activated.]

Tsuze—!

A faint aura gathered around the club.

That was the signal that the hunt for Amtosrin had begun.